India-New Zealand Relations General: India and New Zealand share a common historical connection with the British Empire and have cordial and friendly relations rooted in the linkages of Commonwealth, parliamentary democracy and the English language. The two countries have been fellow travelers in their commitment to disarmament, global peace, North-South Dialogue, human rights, ecological preservation and combating international terrorism. The people-to-people contacts have been in focus since migration from India to this country began at the turn of the last century, and a sizeable population of Indian origin (estimated about 110,000) has made New Zealand its permanent home. Tourism and sporting links, particularly in cricket, hockey and mountaineering, have played a significant role in fostering goodwill between the two countries. Political relations and institutional framework: (a) Recent High level visits: (i) Visit of Hon’ble Speaker, Lok Sabha: Smt. Meira Kumar, Hon’ble Speaker, Lok Sabha, led a Parliamentary delegation to New Zealand from 13-17 April 2012, as a Guest of the New Zealand Parliament. During their visit, the delegation held meetings with the Acting Prime Minister Bill English, NZ Speaker Dr. Lockwood Smith, Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians of NZ and Wellington Mayor Celia Wade- Brown and attended a reception hosted by the India-New Zealand Business Council. (ii) Visit of Governor General of New Zealand to India in September, 2008, in October 2010 and in January 2011: Honourable Anand Satyanand, the Governor General accompanied by his wife Susan Satyanand paid a State Visit to India from September 8-14, 2008. This was also the first ever visit of a New Zealand Governor General to India. During the visit he met the President and the Prime Minister, the Vice President, the External Affairs Minister, the Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs and the Leader of Opposition, Shri L.K. Advani. The Governor General announced the establishment by the Government of New Zealand, of the ‘’Sir Edmund Hillary Fellowships’’ to promote visits from India and Nepal of distinguished persons in the areas of business, politics, law, culture and other fields to New Zealand. The Governor General also visited Mumbai and Hyderabad. Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and the Governor General underlined the priority the two governments attached to building a substantial bilateral relationship. The Governor General accompanied by Lady Susan Satyanand also visited New Delhi on October 2-9, 2010 to represent the New Zealand Government at the XIX Commonwealth Games. 1 The Governor General accompanied by Lady Susan Satyanand again visited New Delhi on January 5-10, 2011. The Governor General was the Chief Guest at the Pravasi Bharatiya Convention held on January 7-9, 2011 and was also honoured with the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman award. (iii) State visit of Prime Minister John Key to India: Prime Minister, H.E. John Key, accompanied by Mrs. Bronagh Key, paid a state visit to India from June 26-30, 2011. He was accompanied by the Trade Minister Hon. Tim Groser and Member of Parliament, Mr. Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi, senior officials and a business and media delegation. He called on the President and Vice –President, held talks with the Prime Minister and met with the External Affairs Minister, Chairperson, UPA and the Leader of the Opposition. Prime Minister John Key also addressed a business luncheon organized jointly by CII, FICCI and ASSOCHAM. Two agreements were signed during the visit- (i) Agreement on Audio-visual Cooperation; and (ii) Protocol for Cooperation on Science and innovation. (iv) Visit of NZ Education Minister: New Zealand Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment, Mr. Steven Joyce, visited India for the inaugural meeting of the India New Zealand Education Council (INZEC). The inaugural meeting, held in New Delhi on 19th October, was co-chaired by Mr. Steven Joyce and Hon’ble HRD Minister, Shri Kapil Sibal. Five MoUs covering areas such as vocational training, joint research training, student exchanges and ICT as also an MoU to set up a New Zealand India Research Institute at the Victoria University of Wellington and the India-New Zealand Aviation Arrangement agreement were signed during the visit. (v) Visit of NZ Conservation Minister: Conservation Minister Ms. Kate Wilkinson visited India from 15-23 October 2012 for the 11th Convention on Biological Diversity held in Hyderabad, which was followed by her stopover in New Delhi for the bilateral part of the visit. (vi) Visit of Primary Industries Minister: Mr. David Carter, Minister for Primary Industries visited India from 24 November to 2nd December 2012. (b) Record of Bilateral visits (i) VVIP visits from India: Sr. No. Date Dignitary 1. 1968 Smt. Indira Gandhi 2. 1986 Shri Rajiv Gandhi (ii) VVIP visits from New Zealand: 2 Sr. No. Date Dignitary 1. 1960s PM Walter Nash 2. 1970s PM Norman Kirk 3. 1980s P M David Lange 4. Oct’2004 PM Helen Clark 5. Sept 2008 Governor General Anand Satyanand 6. Oct 2010 Governor General Anand Satyanand 7. Jan 2011 Governor General Anand Satyanand 8. Jun’ 2011 Prime Minister John Key (iii) Other High Level Visits from India Sr. No. Date Dignitary 1. Oct’06 Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs, Mr. Vayalar Ravi. 2. Nov’06 Minister of Finance, Mr. P. Chidambaram. 3. Dec’06 Chief Minister of Uttaranchal, Mr. Narayan Datt Tiwari. 4. Mar’07 Minister of Panchayati Raj, Sports and Youth Affairs, Mr. Mani Shankar Aiyar. 5. Apr’07 Special Envoy of PM, Mr. Shyam Saran. 6. Jul’07 Minister of Textiles, Mr. Shankarsinh Vaghela. 7. Apr’08 Minister of Youth, Sports and Local Government, Mr. Mani Shankar Aiyar. 8. May’08 Minister of Commerce, Mr. Kamal Nath. 9. Aug’08 MOS(EA), Mr. E. Ahamed. 10. Mar’09 Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Youth Affairs & Sports, Dr. M.S. Gill. 11. Feb’10 Member of Parliament, Mr. Rahul Gandhi. 12. Mar’10 Minister for Chemicals & Fertilizers, Mr. M.K. Alagiri. 13. Apr’10 Minister for Human Resource Development, Mr. Kapil Sibal. 14. June’10 Minister for Power, Mr. Sushil Kumar Shinde (private visit) 15. June’10 Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs, Mr. Vayalar Ravi. 16. Sept’10 Governor of Orissa, Mr. Murlidhar Chandrakant Bhandare. 18. May’11 Minister of Commerce and Industry, Mr. Anand Sharma. 19. Sept’11 Minister of State for External Affairs, Ms. Preneet Kaur. 20. Apr’12 Hon’ble Speaker of Lok Sabha, Mrs. Meira Kumar. 21. Sept’12 Mr. Chandreshwar Prasad Singh, Hon’ble Speaker, Jharkhand Legislative Assembly – on a study tour. (iv) Other High Level Visits from New Zealand Sr. No. Date Dignitary 1. Apr’07 Minister of Defence, Disarmament and Trade, Mr. Phil Goff. 2. Sep/Oct’07 Deputy Prime Minister, Hon. Michael Cullen 3 3. Mar’08 Agriculture and Forestry Minister, Hon. Jim Anderton 4. Feb’09 Minister of Trade & Conservation and Associate Minister for Climate Change Issues & Foreign Affairs, Mr. Tim Groser. 5. Feb’09 Former Minister for Internal Affairs, Dr. Richard Worth. 6. Sept’09 Minister of Trade & Conservation and Associate Minister for Climate Change Issues & Foreign Affairs, Mr. Tim Groser. 7. Mar’11 Minister of Immigration, Mr. Jonathan Coleman. 8. Apr’11 Minister for Defence, Science and Innovation and Associate Minister for Economic Development and Tertiary Education, Mr. Wayne Mapp. 9. Oct’12 Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment, Mr. Steven Joyce. 10. Oct’12 Minister for Conservation Ms. Kate Wilkinson 11. Nov’12 Minister for Primary Industries, Mr. David Carter. (c) Agreements between the two countries: Trade Agreement - October 1986 Agreement on avoidance of Double Taxation - October, 1986 Civil Aviation Agreement between India and New Zealand August 1997 MOU on Scientific and Technical Cooperation between ICAR and Horti Research of New Zealand - March 1998 MoU of Technical Cooperation between Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture, GOI and Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry Regulatory Authority of New Zealand on Cooperation on Plant Quarantine Issues - April 1999 Arrangement between India and New Zealand for cooperation in the area of Information Technology, December 2001. MoU between Indian Institute of Carpet Technology (IICT) and the Wool Research Organisation of New Zealand (WRONZ), May 2003 MOU on Cooperation between the Indian Council of World Affairs and the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs, November 2008 Education Cooperation Arrangement, April 2010 MOU between Indian Council for Cultural Relations and Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, for establishment of Council’s short-term Chair in India’s International Relations and/or Indian Politics at the University; September 2010. Agreement on Audio-visual Cooperation. Protocol for Cooperation on Science and innovation Official Assurance Programme (OAP) for export of Mangoes to NZ between the Ministry of Agriculture of India and the Ministry for Primary Industries of New Zealand signed in New Delhi on 17th July 2012. (d) Joint Commission: Ministry of Commerce and Industry is the nodal Ministry. Joint Business Council meeting was held in New Zealand in May 2011. 4 (e) Foreign Office Consultations: India-New Zealand Foreign Office Consultations were held in Wellington on 24th September 2012. Bilateral Trade: The bilateral trade has been growing steadily. As per provisionally available figure, in the year to October’12, the bilateral trade crossed $1.256 billion. Figures regarding bilateral trade in NZ $ (millions) in the last six years are as under: 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 Year to October Exports to India 366.20 543.70 630 900 938 834 Imports from 268.90 329.10 355 368 387 422 India Mahindra-Satyam, HCL Technologies, WIPRO, Infosys and Tech Mahindra, New India Assurance Co. Ltd., Bank of Baroda and Bank of India have presence in New Zealand. Free Trade Agreement: The negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between India and New Zealand commenced in April 2010.